How to get rid of fruit flies and other common pests

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If you awaken one morning to find a cloud of tiny flying insects swarming around your fruit bowl, chances are, you’ve got an infestation of fruit flies.
These small flying pests are a species of housefly that is strongly attracted to ripening or decaying fruit.
Luckily, it’s generally not difficult to get rid of fruit flies, and there’s no need for potentially toxic chemicals to do so.
Here’s how to deal with these pests, as well as two similar flying insects: fungus gnats and drain flies.

At one point or another, pretty much everyone will need to deal with fruit flies. My own turn came when I left a peach ripening a little too long in the fruit bowl, only to walk into the kitchen and discover a cloud of little flying pests hovering over the bowl and crawling all over the fruit I’d been planning on enjoying with my lunch.

Since then, I’ve been careful to toss fruit that’s past its prime, although in my fruit-intensive household, most produce is consumed before that occurs.

You can literally leave a pest-free kitchen in the morning, and come home in the afternoon to find a cloud of fruit flies partying in your fruit bowl. These tiny insects are powerfully drawn to the scent of decaying fruit and are small enough to slip right through your window screen or any tiny cracks around the windows or doors. You might also unknowingly bring fruit flies home with your produce from the farmers market or supermarket.

Once they gain access to your kitchen, the flies feast on overripe fruit. Of course, dining is not all these pests have on their minds. They’re also doing the nasty in your fruit bowl. Afterward, the female pierces the skin of the fruit to lay up to 500 eggs beneath it.

The eggs hatch in as little as 24 hours, and the fruit provides food for the larvae. A few days later, the larvae pupate for a few days before emerging in their adult form. Within two days, the adults are ready for some lovin’ in your kitchen, and the cycle repeats. With an average lifespan of 40 to 50 days, that’s a whole lot of fruit flies.

Now that you know where fruit flies come from, we’ll break down how to get rid of them and how to get rid of other kitchen pests that are often mistaken for fruit flies.

Read on to learn how to get rid of fruit flies and other pests quickly and easily.

How to get rid of fruit flies

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There are quite a few ways to get rid of fruit flies, but the one that worked very well for me is probably the simplest. Just pour apple cider vinegar into a bowl, and then add a few drops of liquid dish soap. Set the bowl on your counter near the fruit fly infestation, and watch the magic happen.

Fruit flies are attracted to the scent of the apple cider vinegar, but when they head in for a tasty treat, they slip underneath the liquid’s surface and drown, thanks to the reduced surface tension created by the dish soap.

I admit it — it was strangely and morbidly fascinating watching the tiny pests flit around before landing on the apple cider vinegar and then disappearing into the murky depths. Within a couple of days, my fruit fly problem was no more.

If you prefer something a little more attractive than an open bowl of vinegar dotted with drowned fruit flies sitting on your kitchen counter, check out the RSVP Endurance Fruit Fly Trap. You get a small white ceramic bowl with a perforated stainless steel lid.

Just pour apple cider vinegar into the trap, add a couple of drops of dish detergent, cover the bowl with the lid, and voila! You’ve put a pretty face on your fruit-fly death trap, but it’s just as effective at wiping out pest infestations as less-attractive bowls.

Whichever method you choose, prevent a recurrence by tossing or composting overripe fruit — of course, it’s best of all if you eat the produce before it ever gets to the overripe stage —washing your fruit bowls weekly, and emptying the kitchen trash bin regularly.

Buy a 16oz bottle of Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Liquid Dish Soap from Target for $3.99

Buy a 16oz bottle of Bragg Organic Apple Cider Vinegar on Amazon for $8.30

Buy the RSVP Endurance Fruit Fly Trap on Amazon for $11.95

How to tell if you have fruit flies and get rid of other pests

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It’s easy to identify the common fruit fly: Most have red eyes and a tan-to-brown thorax. Males have a mostly black abdomen, while the abdomens of females have black stripes. Both males and females are very small, generally only one to three millimeters in length. As their name suggests, these insects like fruit, and generally won’t stray far from your kitchen, compost bin, or trashcans.

Two other common and tiny flying indoor pests that are sometimes confused with fruit flies are drain flies and fungus gnats. Fungus gnats, which have a thinner body shape than fruit flies, although they are around the same size, are generally brown or black with light brown legs.

These annoying pests like houseplants, particularly overwatered plants. You’ll see clouds of the adults rise up out of the pot whenever it’s disturbed, but it’s the larva that do the real damage to the plant’s roots.

Prevention is the best way to deal with fungus gnats, so let your plants dry out a bit between waterings, but if you do end up with an infestation, you’ll get fairly quick relief with Safer Brand’s nontoxic Houseplant Sticky Stakes.

Drain flies are “fuzzier” than fruit flies and fungus gnats, but equally tiny. You’ll generally spot these disgusting tan, gray, or black creatures flitting around your sink drain, as they breed in the sludge down inside the pipes.

It’s not nearly as easy to get rid of drain flies as it is to eliminate fruit flies and fungus gnats, but the task is often achieved by pouring boiling water down the drain to break down the sludge, as well as treating the sink drain with a nontoxic product that helps naturally remove drain buildup, such as Bye-Bye Drain Flies.